the one with home and the holidays

It's 11PM and I've got nothing in front of me but headlights and interstate. We are driving the 12 hours to North Carolina overnight because we wanted to get "home" as fast as possible.  Home has become a relative term for me the last few years as every member of my family has moved multiple times. Now, home simply means a place where we're all together and surprisingly, I'm totally ok with that. So even though I may not always know what to put for my hometown on my Facebook profile (Athens? Cary? Somewhere in Florida? Boston?) -- I'm finally accepting that my scattered "homes" just make me a little more interesting. Knowing that my family is waiting on the other end of this crazy, exhausting drive with a fireplace, a Christmas tree, my brother in law's famous chocolate covered peanut butter balls, and lots of shrieking kiddos makes it all worth it. :) 

And because I so wish I could send all of you a sweet Christmas greeting from Boston to your home (wherever that is!) - I wanted to share some of the photos from our little Christmas card photo session. Thank you, Fergie for taking these pictures for us -- you da best, girl!

Merry Christmas, y'all! We hope you all find a little piece of home and happiness this season! 

Love,

A+J

the one with the traveling newlyweds

The first post of 2013! Can you believe that we're already here? I feel like the past year has FLOWN by in a series of crazy, wonderful, new, and exciting moments. Jesse and I sent 2012 out and rang in 2013 among my ever-growing family. We started out in West Palm Beach, Florida with my parents and my brother Jonathan's family, drove up to Columbia, SC to visit with my brother David's family, and are rounding out the trip in Wilmington, NC with my sister Elizabeth's brood. It has been an action-packed vacation filled with presents (giving and getting), movies, some sickness (this always happens to me!), laughter with my incredible siblings and their spouses, and lots of child-wrangling. 

A glimpse of Christmas

I had to drop J off at the airport today so he could head home, but I'm hanging here in Wilmington until my sister's 4th baby is born. I've been here for each of the Thompson births so I'm sooo glad I get to be here for the final addition. Currently, my nieces are by my side chattering away while we settle in to watch Brave (Cassidy's new favorite movie) so I have to run before they assault me for continuing to type rather than watch with them. It's good to be wanted:) 

My extremely pregnant (and very adorable) big sister

Miss this man already:) 

2013 is already shaping up to be a great year! Happy New Year, friends!

the one with all the marry-ment

This weekend two of my best friends got married in the most bedazzled of occasions  Cortney Shanks married Tom McGuirk!! After several rounds of dating - they finally tied the knot yesterday.  And it was perfect:) I wore a gold sequined party dress (every girl needs one, after all) and Jesse got to wear the cutest little bow tie. We stood up on stage and watched two of our favorites commit their lives to one another. It was a tearful, happy, and long-awaited event and I'm so glad we got to witness it. 

The beautiful bride!

Over the last year, Cortney was in five weddings (including mine) and I was curious to see how she would style her own wedding - and let me tell you, it was the most unique weddings ever. She did an amazing job combining all of the best parts of this time of year - candlelight, glitter, and class - while remaining perfectly herself. Her dress was simple and beautiful and she matched it with a coverlet from Beholdn (Anthro's wedding line) - seriously the coolest accessory I've ever seen. Like I mentioned before, the bridesmaids wore gold sequined dresses, carried black clutches (hand-picked by the bride for each maid - precious), and rocked sock buns. The reception was held at this stunning New England house that had a roaring fireplace, twinkle lights, and cozy couches. Magical. 

Tom and Cort - you may never see this thanks to your amaaaazing honeymoon in Aruba (woo!) but thank you for letting me be apart of your Big Day. I can't believe we almost had to miss it, but I'm so grateful that God worked it out. The best December 22nd I can ever remember:)  If you want to look at more pictures from their day (and if you have an instagram) - type in the hashtag #merrycortmas and enjoy!

Today, I'm sitting at my computer with a sore throat and head ache - the aftermath of the perfect weekend - and I'm trying to rest up before we head out to Florida for Christmas vacation. I feel so tired and yet so blessed all at once. It's definitely been a wonderful Christmas season already. 

And before my other lovely brides from 2012 feel slighted - I would also love to give a special shout-out to Candice and Erin - two of my other newly married friends who are literally some of the most stunning people I will ever know. Your weddings were perfect and deserve a post of their own. I love you both dearly:) If you want to have some serious wedding envy take a look at their weddings here and here. Just kidding...envy is wrong - let's call it "appreciating." ;)

the one with the weekend visit

Ever have one of those days where you wake up feeling like you've already lived the whole day already? That's me today - totally and completely exhausted in every capacity. But here's the good news - exhaustion can come from the most positive things. Like this weekend, for instance, my dad came into town! It was one of those weekends where you go non-stop but it was completely wonderful. My dad came to Boston not only to visit his favorite daughter...sorry Elizabeth;)....but to speak to our church about the books of 1 & 2 Samuel. I hadn't heard my dad preach in forever and I've got to tell you - it was even better than I remembered. He has the gift of bringing the Bible to life in the most fun, expressive, and deep way. And he makes the best movie references (I mean really, what other preacher quotes "Die Hard" regularly in sermons). 

But hearing him preach was only one of the highlights - we got to talk and catch up, re-tell funny memories, and just be together. One of the best parts of his visit was going to see the Boston Pops holiday concert. The Boston Pops combine symphony orchestra, choral performance, and modern music in this wonderful melodic blend and it was such a great experience. Special bonus? It was totally free! After a night full of merriment I am officially in the Christmas spirit. 

Having my two favorite men together in one place was the perfect December treat - my first married Christmas season and my dad visiting all at once. I truly feel like the "boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places" (Psalm 16:6).

This morning I feel so lucky to have such a wonderful earthly father who points me to my heavenly father. However, I realize that my situation is unique. So many of my friends don't have the relationship with their dad that I get to enjoy - but the amazing thing is that we can all have a father that thinks we're the bees' knees. Don't believe me? The Bible has some wonderful things to say about that. Try reading Isaiah 49:15-16, Psalm 103:11-13, and Zephaniah 3:17 for starters. Here's to a holiday season full of security, peace, and connection:)

Miss you already!

the one where we got [christmas] crafty

Christmas decorating on a newlywed budget? Challenge accepted. After years of bemoaning my lack of creativity in DIY projects - I finally made some progress this month! I took on three projects (you've got to start somewhere, people) and I thought I would share them with you here. 

1. Yarn Wreath 

For those of you who follow me on Pinterest, you know that I went a little pin happy recently in the wreath department. They are a great combination of home spun (see what I did there?) and put-together. To make my wreath I followed a tutorial from the Decor Chick blog which you can check out here. 

What you'll need: 

- A wreath form (made of a straw-like thing)

- Two rolls of yarn (if you are doing a two tone like me)

- Hot glue gun

- Decorative feature (I chose greenery with some berries)

What you do: 

It's simple - just wrap the yarn around the wreath form tightly and make sure there aren't any gaps. As you finish with a section (if you opt to do multiple colors), just secure with a dab of hot glue. It took me about 2 hours to wrap while catching up with a friend. Finally, just hot glue the decoration to the front and fix to your liking! 

After I finished wrapping the wreath, I started to attach the greenery with hot glue. 

The Final product! Wrapped the greenery in additional yarn to hide the ends. 

2. Holiday Centerpiece

I wanted something cute and festive for our coffee table - so here's what I came up with! 

What you'll need: 

- A clear vase

- Two bags of fresh (or fake) cranberries 

- Greenery (fake or real)

- a candle (I opted for a mason jar one but tea lights would be cute too)

- twine

What you do: 

Simply fill the bottom with cranberries, decorate the top with greenery (I had leftovers from the wreath) and place the candle in the middle. Finally, wrap the vase with some twine and that's it! Done and done. I really like the way it turned out. And the best part? It was practically free.

I like how this is seasonal without pounding you over the head with Christmas cheer. 

3. Cinnamon Candles

I saw this idea online at Martha Stewart and I wanted to make one for me and one for a dear friend who happens to loveee candles! So, I went for it. 

What you'll need: 

- Vanilla pillar candles

- 2 bags of cinnamon sticks (I suggest a craft store for this)

- Rubber bands

- Twine

What you do: 

In order to get the most out of my cinnamon sticks, I decided to break the sticks in half. I was able to break most of them by myself but J helped me with the thicker ones:) After that, I wrapped the rubber band around the candle and started putting cinnamon sticks side by side. You do have finagle it a bit since some sticks will be large and make the skinny ones slide out. But the rubber band is still much better than glue (I tried both). After you arrange the sticks, wrap the twine around the candle so that the rubber band is fully covered. The candle will look and smell great!

The final result: a sweet-smelling and cozy decoration. I surrounded mine with metallic  accents.

It's amazing how just a few simple decorations can transform your home this time of year. I hope this gets your creative juices flowing! Happy decorating and DIY-ing everyone! Oh and if you have more ideas - please feel free to comment! I have to capitalize on this phase:) 

the one with christmas trees and google searches

On Monday, Jesse and I picked out our very first Christmas tree! And yes - it was exactly like that scene in Christmas Vacation where Clark Griswold sees "the one" - and the tree glows and a chorus sings melodiously in the background....well, sort of. But we did find a tree in the freezing cold and we did cut it down ourselves! And by "we" - I obviously mean Jesse. I was dressed far too adorably for such an endeavor. 

Turkey Hill Farm...and my very own lumberjack.

So anyways, we picked up our good friend Steve and drove up to Turkey Hill Farm in Haverhill, MA to search for the perfect tree. With the beautiful mountains behind us we paid an arm and a leg to cut down our very own tree, drink some free cider, and snap some photos commemorating the special moment. 

The first-ever A+J tree! Sorry I'm not giving you a full scale glimpse at The Tree. It's about 6 feet tall and smells divine. 

Oh and a woman from the Associated Press followed us around taking pictures for an article or something. So, who knows, maybe we'll even be in the paper! I even typed in "Alexandra Ghoman" on google today to see if she had posted a picture with my name in it and alas...only my Pinterest page popped up. This showed me two things: no, she didn't sell our pictures to the AP wire and yes, I'm the only Alexandra Ghoman on the internet...nay in the WORLD!!! 

So, clearly, it's been a big week for me - a first Christmas tree AND my very own google name. It's the little things in life:)

Sealed with a kiss. But we're married so it's allowed:)